Not Another Vampire Book (10 page)

There
was absolutely nothing in Damien’s experience that prepared him for a question
like that.  Since she seemed to expect a response though, he just said the
first thing that popped into his head.  “I’m never concerned about other men in
a woman’s past.  After she’s been with me, she doesn’t remember them, anyway.”

Kara’s
eyes went wide, like she couldn’t believe he’d said that.

Honestly,
Damien couldn’t, either.  The half arrogant/half sardonic comment had been
completely out of the blue.  What did this woman
do
to him?

Fibos
didn’t notice the pause.  “There is no need to fear King Slade’s legendary
prowess and massive endowments, my lady.  He will take your purity with the
gentlest…”

Karalynn
gave her head a shake.  “Ewww!  Let’s just cut the rest of the speech, okay?”  She
held up a hand.  “If there’s God, I will never see the Vampire’s massive
endowments.  Geez!  I can’t believe Tanya actually
wrote
that.  Consider
it already edited, and let’s just all erase it from our minds.”

“Gladly.” 
Damien muttered.

“My
lady, whoever Tanya is, I assure you she means nothing to King Slade.  You
alone are his Eternal-One…”

“No!” 
Kara cut him off.  “
I’m not Slade’s Eternal-One!
 Lord, is it really
that
difficult to believe that Captain America’s wrong about this?”

“He
is a king, not a mere captain.”  Fibos began, loyally.  “And Slade is never
wrong.”

Damien
snorted, more than willing to offer Karalynn a list of times when Slade’s
fallibility had been
more
than apparent.  Before he could begin reciting
them, though, the Flawless King of the Vampires appeared.

“Eternal-One!” 
Slade’s booming voice grated across Damien like shards of glass.  “I have found
you, my love!  I shall save you from this creature!”  He bounded across the
open lot, a sword in one hand and what looked like a pink purse clutched in the
other.

Damien
rolled his eyes in disgust.  It was either focus on the Vampire’s staggering
stupidity or fall into a blind rage.  Slade remained so utterly unaffected by
his deeds, so uncaring that he’d wiped out Damien’s people and life.  The
Vampires had butchered Damien’s baby sister and still had the audacity to call
the Wizard Warlocks ‘creatures.’  It drove Damien to the brink of madness.

It
wasn’t that Slade’s guilt or apology would make a difference.  Damien would
still kill him.  The festering hatred he felt towards the Vampire was a living
thing in his rotten soul.  But, he wanted –just once-- for that smug piece of
shit to see himself for the monster he really was.

No.

More
than that.

He
wanted Slade’s
woman
to see him for the monster he really was.  He
wanted Karalynn to see that the Vampires were the real creatures.  Damien
wanted more than her body.  He wanted Karalynn on
his
side of this war. 
The desire made no sense, but it was amazing in its sudden strength.  He wanted
Karalynn to see that he was right and to stay with him willingly.  He wanted
the woman to continuing thinking of him as the hero.

Even
as he thought it, though, Damien knew it would never happen.  She was wary of
the Vampire now, but soon she’d soon come to love him.  Everyone always did.  Damien
automatically glanced down at Kara for her reaction, already preparing to get
enraged with her inevitable fawning over Slade’s presence.

Instead
of being transfixed by the Vampire’s half buttoned shirt, she was gaping up at
the sky, again.  “Holy crap, he has theme music.”  She whispered in
astonishment.  “Tanya’s given Slade his own
theme music
for when he
rides to the rescue!”

Damien’s
head tilted, listening. She was right.  A trumpet and drum laden, heroic ode
was playing from somewhere.  That was… odd.  Damien had an uncomfortable
sensation of wrongness as he looked around.  Did that always happen when Slade
appeared?  He suddenly couldn’t be sure, nor could he explain it.  Not even the
Vampire could travel with a full orchestra.

“
Unbelievable!
 
She wrote theme music into the book.”  Kara threw up her hands.  “I’ve had it. 
Vlad, all that stuff I said about the tractor beam…?  Total lies.  I’d like to
zap out of here now.  I can put up with the seasickness. I swear.  I just want
to leave.”

The
feeling that things were
off
somehow intensified as Damien realized that
he didn’t
want
to run home.  Ordinarily, Slade’s arrival meant that he
was forced to retreat.  But now… not so much.

Damien
wanted to fight Slade.

Hearing
about the Vampire’s perfection, listening to the annoying music, and imagining
Karalynn soft body in Slade’s arms just reminded him how wonderful it would
feel to wipe the pontificating jackass right out of existence.

It
had always frustrated Damien that he and the Vampire had so many confrontations
and planned so many ways to destroy each other…  But, they never just fought it
out until one of them was dead.  Suddenly, that made no sense, at all.  Why did
he always hide from Slade?  Why didn’t he just stab the lackwit through the
heart and be done with it?

Damien
stepped forward, ushering Kara behind him, out of range.

“Oh
no.”  She muttered.  “Damien, don’t you kill him.  I mean it.”

Damien’s
mouth curved in an anticipatory smile.

“The
woman is mine, Creature!”  Slade’s passionate roar was slightly diminished by
the brick he tripped over in the dark.  “Ow!”  He stumbled forward a step,
flashing it a glower, and making an aggravate noise.  “Alright, what are we
even doing in this tenement?”  He demanded, sounding frustrated and not like
his normal sermonizing self.  “Karalynn, why won’t you just give yourself to me
and we can be done with it?  Do you not realize that this is all going wrong?”

“Of
course I realize it’s wrong, dumbass.  I’m the only one here who’s not insane.” 
Karalynn edged around Damien so she could speak into his ear.  “Damien.  Please. 
I can’t deal with him right now, and you can’t beat him.  Not like this.  We
have to go.”

“I
can
beat him.  He’s a fucking moron.”

“I
know.  The fight’s fixed, though.  Don’t do it this way.”

She
sounded so certain that Damien hesitated.  Doubts crept in.  The brief flash of
clarity faded and Damien realized Karalynn was right.  He couldn’t kill Slade, yet. 
For some reason he just… couldn’t.  It wasn’t the way things were supposed to
go.  He could feel it.  Slade actually had a point for once.  Something felt
off
about this entire evening.  It was affecting his judgment.

Still,
he wasn’t going to rock the boat when things were finally going in his favor. 
His palm slid along Karalynn’s arm, partly to anchor himself and partly to
infuriate the Vampire.

Slade
looked satisfactorily apoplectic.  “Karalynn, don’t allow this monster to touch
you, my sweetest lamb!  He’s trying to sully you with his evil hands!”

 “Can’t
you take a hint, Vampire?  The woman doesn’t want you.”  Damien tugged Kara even
closer to him.  “It seems she prefers creatures to knights.”

Kara
frowned.  “Damien, don’t let Tanya mess with your head.  You’re not a creature.”

“Yes,
he
is
, Eternal-One!”  Slade whined out.  “Now, if you don’t come
willingly, what choices have you left me?  I must take drastic measures to
rescue you from yourself.”

Damien’s
eyes narrowed.

Karalynn
gasped.  “Did you just
threaten
me?!  God!  Nice work with your hero,
Tanya.”

“Yes!” 
Slade’s expression lit up.  “You have finally noticed I’m a hero!  This is a
good sign for your recovery, my beloved love.  You are coming through the fog.  Yes,
I am your devoted hero.”  He pointed at his own chest and nodded encouragingly,
speaking slowly as if Karalynn was deranged.  “I am Slade.  Sa-Laidddd.”

Damien’s
jaw clenched.  It was one thing for him to question the woman’s sanity, but
Slade doing it was just irritating.  “She isn’t as slow as you are,
Sa-Laiddd
. 
There’s no need to speak to her that way.  In fact, you don’t need to speak to
her, at all.”

“Thank
you, Vlad.”

Slade
ignored that.  “Concentrate, Eternal-One.  Look into my azure blue gaze and
know who I am.  I am not called Tanya.  I am
Slade
, King of the Vampires
and defender of all good beings in this world.  I am the man you have waited
for.  I can provide you with everything you’d ever wish.  Every desire of your
body and mind…”

Kara
cut him off.  “I know, I know.  I’ve heard the sales pitch.  Lord!  Don’t you
ever get tired of listening to your own voice?”

“No,
of course not.”  Slade said, seriously.

Kara
muttered something under her breath that sounded an awful lot like, “fucking
moron.”

Damien
realized that he was beginning to actually
like
another being in the
vast, indifferent universe.  It was an odd revelation.  He didn’t know what to
make of it.

Slade
clearly didn’t find Karalynn nearly so charming.  “You’re being brainwashed,
dearest hearted one.  I must save you.”

“I
don’t even think there
is
brainwashing in this century.”  Kara shot back,
glaring at him, again.  “And I’m not brainwashed.  I just don’t like you.  A
lot.”  She made an emphatic gesture with her hands.  “Look, let’s just get this
all out in the open, very clearly, so you can understand. 
Really
try to
listen, this time.  I’m not your bride.  You
know
that, someplace inside
your cavernous skull.  You don’t even want me.”

“She
believes that you seek the company of other Vampiresses, Your Majesty.”  Fibos
stage whispered.  “The creature has planted falsehoods into her impressionable
human mind.”

“I
don’t need to lie about you, Slade.”  Damien kept his gaze locked on his
enemy.  “The woman sees the truth on her own.” 
Hopefully.

In
his empty heart, Damien still wasn’t willing to believe it was that easy.  That
Slade’s own Eternal-One was truly the single other being in the world who
realized the Vampire was an asshole.  Damien’s luck just wasn’t that good. 
This could all still be a trick.  He needed the truth before this went much
further.  He needed to speak with the woman alone.

Slade
sighed dramatically.  “You are so confused, Karalynn.  You are but an innocent flower
caught in a storm.”

“Arggg!” 
Kara leaned down, grabbed a rock, and pegged it at him.

Damien
had the satisfaction of seeing the stone impact Slade’s empty, blond head and
then he was teleporting Kara right back to the safety of his lair.  If he
couldn’t kill Slade, there seemed little point in enduring the man’s idiocy or
risking Karalynn falling in love with his golden form.  How did Vampires tan,
anyway?  He’d never understood that.

“Oh
man.”  Karalynn sank down to the floor of the hotel bed chamber, again.  “It’s
not just the first trip, Vlad.  It’s doing the dizzy thing this time, too.”

“Perhaps,
teleportation is difficult for human physiology.”  He’d never tried it on
humans before so he couldn’t be sure of the effects.

“Whatever.” 
Kara looked around the room and sighed.  “So, I’m stuck in this nightmare, my
building is missing, Vampires are after me, and now my purse has been stolen. 
I swear to God, I will never complain about having a bad day, again.”  She made
a face.  “And Slade just gets more and more annoying with each passing page. 
No wonder you hate him so much.”

Lie
or not, temporary or not, Damien appreciated the support.  So few beings saw
things from his perspective.  “I will replace your belongings.  All of them.”

She
snorted, obviously not believing him.  “Yeah right.  I don’t think even Tanya
has invented tampons, yet.  Or credit cards.  Or my favorite pen, with the
glitter ink.  And I’m going to have to go down to the DMV to get a new driver’s
license, which will be almost as big a pain in the ass as this living-in-a-book-deal
is.  And –shit!--  my silver earrings were in there, too.  Damn Vampire
muggers.”

Damien
spoke all the human dialects, but he had no clue what any of that meant.

Her
mouth thinned as she stared off at nothing.  “There’s a picture of my mother in
that wallet.”  She murmured and Damien heard the sadness in her tone.

“I
will get your things back from the Vampires.”  He made it a vow, although why
it mattered he had no idea.  He could provide her with anything she needed to
survive and the comfort of his prisoners had never been a concern before.  “If
you want your belongings, I will retrieve them for you.”

Karalynn
flashed him a surprised look.  “You don’t have to do that.  Really.  I’m just
venting.  I should have checked the garden better before I went running off. 
I’m an idiot.”  She dropped her head and, for the first time since he’d met her,
looked ready to give up.  “I’m a lost, planless, Vampire-stalked, idiot.”

“You
are distraught.” 
Over something or other
.  “You shouldn’t be so hard on
yourself.”  Damien had no idea why, but he wanted her to cheer up.  Once again,
he said the first thing that came to mind.  “After all, you’re but a flower in
a storm, Kara Lynn.”